Young Irish breeders travel to World Hereford Conference in US
A group of eight young Hereford cattle breed enthusiasts from across Ireland have travelled to the World Hereford Conference in the the US state of Kansas this week to compete in the Young Breeders Competition at the global event.
The competition sees a total of 11 teams from seven different countries competing.
The Irish team are travelling out with the support of Irish Hereford Prime and the Irish Hereford Breed Society as well several other agri-businesses.
There are two teams representing Ireland at the global cattle breed event:
| Team Green | Team White |
|---|---|
| Colin Burke, Co. Westmeath | Sarah Armstrong, Co. Cavan (captain) |
| Patrick Farrell, Co. Westmeath | Mark Hyland, Co. Leitrim |
| Jack Larkin, Co. Offaly | Sarah Murray, Co. Westmeath |
| Catherine Smyth, Co. Meath (captain) | John O'Dwyer, Co. Tipperary |
As part of the competition, the teams will be judged on their collective skills and abilities relating to the Hereford breed in six different areas.
The six areas to be judged are as follows:
- Industry Practicums and Hereford Bowl;
- Meat Animal Evaluation;
- Livestock Judging Competition;
- Communications Challenge;
- Team fitting contest;
- Showmanship contest.
The competition runs over seven days from Sunday, October 19 to Saturday, October 25 when the awards ceremony will take place and the winners of the competition announced.
The competitors will be judged on their knowledge of herd health and animal handling, cattle scoring, and animal nutrition.
The competitors will travel to the the Kansas State University Meat Lab, where they will be scored on their meat evaluation abilities.
As well as Hereford cattle, participants will be asked to evaluate classes of cattle and different species of livestock based on industry standards of soundness, muscle, structure, performance values, and overall quality.
The teams' ability to communicate effectively will also be accessed.
Teams will be asked to work together on a presentation about Hereford genetics and the beef industry.
This will then be presented to judges where they will be scored on subject knowledge, use of pedigrees, team involvement, general effectiveness, presentation display, and responses to questions.
Teams will be asked to work together to fit a Hereford heifer provided by a selected American Royal Hereford exhibitor. In this section, the teams will be scored on the fitting skills of each team member, their team work, and the final presentation/product.
In the showmanship contest, all members of the team will compete, with their placing added into their team's score.
Selected contestants will advance out of their respective heats toward the semi-finals and then onto the final round, where champion and reserve champion will be selected.
